Back & Better Than Ever
by GuitarHeroLost
Summary: I know I've been unreliable. But this is IT. Year two of the Losties in high school! Things are strange, very strange, on day one. Sana Jacket Kooon PBJ Shayid
1. Back and Better Than Ever

**Bet y'all forgot about me, didn't you? DIDN'T YOU?? Well, I didn't forget about you. LOST Campus, my first fic…ah, good memories. So good, in fact, that I'm writing a sequel! Well, technically I already started a sequel but that wasn't going anywhere so here goes!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Lost.**

"You're kidding."

"Shan, you've said that four times."

"Yeah, but this time I was talking about the other thing."

"Oh yeah? Well, you've said 'you're kidding' to _that_ five times," Boone mumbled, looking away from her, an annoyed look on his face.

"But that just makes it all worse!" Shannon whined. "Kate, Claire, and Juliet were the _best_. I bet I'll get stuck with some Hostile losers with _no_ sense of fashion –."

"Shannon, quit your complaining!" Mrs. Carlyle shouted from the driver's seat. Shannon shot her step-mother a dirty look but stayed quiet anyway, staring pointedly out the window. Boone, on the other hand, looked relieved.

Within minutes they pulled up at the school and both Boone and Shannon perked up. With vacations and such, it had been a while since the two of them had seen anyone but each other and their mom. And Boone and Shannon were, secretly, concerned; it had been some time since they heard from their girlfriend and boyfriend respectively. Kate had been acting odd, and Sayid just wasn't answering calls or anything.

After many hassles from his mother and impatient glares from his sister, Boone set off with Shannon to the main office where there was a large bulletin board with a sea of students milling around it. After fighting through the crowd, they managed to read the list and find their names.

"111B," Boone said aloud, glancing at his sister.

"114A," Shannon said when she noticed his look. She began to scroll down the list slowly.

"Shan let's get out of here, there are people waiting," he hissed at her.

"I want to see who my new roommates are!" she complained but let herself be led away by Boone anyway.

"SHANNON! BOONE!"

The two turned only to be pelted by someone much shorter than them; however, the blonde Australian still managed to get a firm grip on both of them.

"Oh my God!" Shannon squealed as Boone smiled at her. "Claire it's so good to see you! It's been forever! What's your dorm?"

"115A," she replied, smiling back at the two of them.

"Thank God, you're right next door," Shannon sighed.

"That bad?"

"I don't know, I didn't have time to check," she replied, sending a reproachful glance in her stepbrother's direction. He merely rolled his eyes.

"You can check online," Claire told her. "I'm with Sun, Juliet, and Alex."

"Alex?" Boone questioned.

"Yeah, Linus," she turned to him. "You know, from the other school. Ben's sister."

"Oh…." Boone looked at a loss for words. He didn't interfere with Alex all that much, but everyone knew Ben. How could you not?

Claire shrugged. "She said hi to me earlier. Seems like a pretty nice girl. So I take it you don't know either?" she peered at Boone who shook his head. "Well we can head over there anyway, I still have to put my bags away …" she indicated the suitcases she was dragging behind her.

They did just that. Swapping stories of summer, the three of them made their way to their building. After several greetings and hugs and smiles, they finally found their respective rooms.

"You first," Boone nodded at Shannon, knowing how anxious she was to find out who her dorm mates were. She pushed open the door.

"Ana! Thank goodness you're here!" Shannon shrieked, hugging her despite the fact that they were never the closest friends the previous year. This caught the Latina off guard. Pulling back, Shannon scanned the otherwise-empty room as Boone and Claire entered curiously. "But, who else…?"

"Charlotte Lewis and Penny Widmore," Ana responded, also giving Boone and Claire a warm smile of greeting. "Dunno where they are though."

"Penny's cool," Shannon said, looking relieved. "Charlotte…do we know her?" she turned to Claire.

Both she and Ana nodded. "British, redhead, hung out with Penny's dad along with those other people," Claire answered.

"The Chinese kid, the super genius, the other badass British chick, and the one guy who could be considered normal," Ana went on, although Shannon needed no further explanation.

"That always seemed to show up wherever we were, yeah," she nodded.

"Hey Ana, what dorm does Sawyer have?" Boone questioned suddenly.

"114B," she replied. "You going over there? I haven't seen him yet so I was going to head over there."

"Nah, I better meet my roommates, whoever they are," Boone said. "Maybe I'll catch up with you guys there."

They departed the room and went their separate ways. Boone pushed open the door to 111B to find every bed but his own occupied.

Three heads peered up from whatever they were doing. "God, and here I was thinking that the last guy would be someone cool."

"Nice to see you too, Miles," Boone muttered, rolling his eyes slightly.

"Hello, Boone," Locke said kindly from the bed opposite Miles.

"Hey John," Boone said, feeling relieved that at least someone sane was in his room. He frowned at the last boy who was totally unfamiliar with short, dirty blonde hair and blue-grey eyes. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Jacob," he said without looking at Boone.

He nodded in response, a little unsure of how to respond. "I haven't seen you around before. Where are you from?"

"The Hostile school," he replied, finally meeting Boone's eyes. "I've seen you before."

"Have you?" he said, slightly amused, slightly weirded out. Locke, however, smiled at Jacob. "Well…I told some friends I'd meet them…I'll be back in a while."

"Good bye," Jacob and John replied simultaneously.

"Please do not leave me here with them," Miles moaned, not bothering to keep his voice down. The other two seemed unperturbed.

"See you," he said wearily and stepped outside. _That was different_ he thought to himself as he made his way down the hallway toward 114B.

He almost walked right past her. "Oh, I though you guys were in Sawyer's room?" Boone stopped Claire in the hallway.

"We were," she said as if she was not fully sure of what she was answering. "But I – phone – hospital. I'll see you later, Boone!" she didn't bother sounding cheery, and the worry in her eyes gave her away.

"Is everything okay? Claire?" Boone called after her retreating form. There was no response. Slightly worried, he continued to Sawyer's room in a faster pace.

The door was slightly open already, most likely from a hurried departure of Claire. "Hey guys, what happened? Claire just…walked off," he said, nodding at Sawyer.

"I don't know," Shannon said, his worried look mirrored on her face.

"Whatever it was, it sounded important, and she sure dashed out of here soon as she could," Michael, a familiar face, spoke from the bed above Sawyer's.

Concerned, Boone now took the time to observe his surroundings. At one bunk was Michael and Sawyer, the other was Ben and another Hostile whom he believed to be Danny.

As if breaking the awkward silence, Ana said, "I haven't seen Kate yet. Where's she at?"

This statement left Boone feeling even worse. "I don't know," he admitted. "I texted her when we got here…but…"

"I haven't heard from Sayid either," Shannon and her brother exchanged a look. They'd discussed several times over the past few weeks their concern for their friends who haven't been the same, or haven't been in contact.

"They'll show up," Sawyer said, the only one not sounding worried. "Muhammad and Freckles like keepin' to themselves. You know that."

"Yeah," they all said at the same time. Sawyer's phone went off. He checked the screen.

"Who's - ?" Ana began.

"Juliet," he answered before she finished. "She's comin' down here. Apparently Jack hasn't gotten here yet either."

Glances were exchanged. "Sounds serious," Danny said mockingly from his bed.

"Quiet, Pickett, no one asked you," Sawyer snapped. By the looks on both of their faces, some heated discussion had gone on before anyone else arrived. Danny looked satisfied at his frustration and said nothing.

At this time Juliet entered. There was a slightly awkward silence as she saw both Ben and Pickett. She hugged her friends in greeting. "Where's Claire? Alex and I saw that her stuff was dropped off in our room, we thought she'd be here."

"She said something about a hospital," Boone replied solemnly. Juliet looked surprised.

"You're in a dorm with Alex?" Ben piped up. Juliet nodded. "Which one?"

"115A," she said. Without another word, Ben left.

It was silent for a few seconds before Boone's phone began ringing. He was shocked at the caller ID. "Um, I should take this…" he said uneasily and stepped outside.

The room was once again silent and a few minutes later, Boone walked in looking upset. "Who was that?" Juliet asked, alarmed at the look on his face.

He did not respond and only went straight beside Shannon. Putting his arm around her he said, "We need to talk."

**Uh oh! Who was on the phone? Where are Kate and Sayid, and what made Jack and Claire so anxious to leave the school? Gasp! So dramatic. And the hostiles have joined the Losties school…oh the never-ending drama. Review please!**


	2. School's In Session

**Oh it feels fabulous to be writing again :) I didn't know how much I missed it!**

**I don't own Lost. Lost owns me.**

In 115B, Richard was not approving of his new 'task'.

If you could even call it a task.

It was only the first night at the new school and Ben had already assigned him a task.

Honestly, they were sent to school for a reason, and his reason was not to follow his best friend's sister's boyfriend. In fact, they were not even going out officially. He knew it was only a matter of time, as did everyone else.

And when that time came, what was Richard going to do to stop them? Actually, his only job was to tell Ben if they got too close. But what could Ben do? He honestly thought it was sweet to see the two of them together. Karl and Alex had been best friends with day one. He was actually surprised it had taken so long for them to start liking each other.

Not that he would ever tell Ben that.

"Back so soon?" he questioned as Karl re-entered their dorm looking crestfallen.

"Ben came to talk to Alex," he said distastefully. "I didn't feel like hanging around."

Richard and Hurley nodded in understanding. It was strange how easily Hurley fit in with the two former Hostiles. Richard liked the guy, personally. When it was a dorm of only three, you didn't have much of a choice but to get along with your room mates.

---

In 115A, a silence had settled itself over the three girls and the gloomily empty bed.

It was only the first night at the school and already Alex was ready to slap her brother across the face. He could be so damned protective sometimes. She loved him, of course, but she also loved Karl. It almost seemed like she had to choose between them.

On the bright side, she was reunited with her best friend Juliet who'd left her school last year. She felt a little bad for Sun; now that Claire was gone, she must feel a little left out.

"Brothers," she sighed, breaking the silence, shaking her dark hair disapprovingly.

"More like all boys in general," Sun said. The three of them giggled.

"Don't worry about Ben, he just needs to get used to seeing you and Karl together," Juliet reassured. "When he and some girl fall in love, he wouldn't want you to be constantly trying to split them apart."

"Oh, please," Alex scoffed. "Who would ever fall in love with Ben?"

"He doesn't seem like a bad guy to me," Sun mused.

Alex shrugged. "I guess it depends on who you're asking."

The conversation ended there momentarily. Alex spoke again. "I wonder what's up with Claire. I hope she's back soon and everything's alright."

There was a murmur of agreement among the other two girls. After all, they were dorm mates now. They were family.

---

In 114B, a very heated debate was taking place.

It was only the first night at school and already Sawyer was fed up with his roommates. He and Michael didn't always see eye to eye, but he could tell already that Michael would be the only one who would be able to keep him sane. Ben creeped him out, and he and Pickett didn't get along since the moment they say each other.

"Keep talking, boy, and you'll find some places on you hurtin' that you didn't even know you had," Sawyer growled threateningly.

"Oh, I'd like to see you try to - ," Danny began just as threateningly.

"Danny, don't go around picking fights. The school year hasn't even begun," Ben mumbled exhaustedly from under his bed covers. Michael silently agreed.

Danny and Sawyer exchanged one last hateful glare before climbing into bed themselves. He couldn't believe that he was actually admitting it, but Sawyer missed his old room mates.

---

In 114A, an awkward silence had taken over.

It was the first day of school and already Shannon was caught up in drama.

The other three were unsure of what to do. Trying to figure out what to do about a crying Shannon was one way to bring Charlotte, Ana, and Penny together.

"Listen, why don't you just talk to him? He's got to listen to you, he loves you," Ana said soothingly, taking a daring shot at breaking the silence again.

"As if," Shannon sniffed. "He obviously doesn't want to talk to me, if he had to use Boone as a messenger!"

"He's confused," Charlotte said. "You know boys – they're not the smartest. Sometimes you've got to be the man and make the first move."

Shannon half sobbed, half giggled and did not respond. "I can't. If I can't see him anymore I won't talk to him anymore. It'll just hurt."

None of the other girls seemed to have an answer to that.

---

In 113B, the three remaining boys tried to communicate. They tried to get along, and they did in a way, but there was no real connection. It was only the first night and already Jin, Goodwin, and Frank were silently wishing they were in another dorm.

"Someone remind me again why we're missing Shephard?" Goodwin said for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

"Juliet said there'd been some emergency, and he ran out saying he'd be back when he could with news," Frank told him while Jin listened.

"Juliet, huh?" Goodwin said. It seemed that was the only thing he had gotten out of Frank's response. "The two of them are together, I take it?"

Frank, unsure, turned to Jin, whose English had improved greatly over the past year. He nodded. "They are dating," he said clearly but somewhat slowly.

"Not if I can help it," Goodwin said, looking confident. "She's got it going on, that one. What I wouldn't do to –."

"Something tells me we don't need to hear about your fantasies," Frank interrupted as Jin looked pointedly out the window. Goodwin shrugged.

If only Jack was here to keep things normal between them all.

---

In 113A, yet another bed was mysteriously empty.

However, it was only the first day of school and already the other three were making new friends. None of them had really known each other the year before, as they came from different places. Libby, for one, was a returning student.

She and Naomi had met, yes, but they hadn't really had a proper conversation. Naomi came from…well, no one really knew. Wherever her and her friends came from. But unlike her friends, she wasn't totally awkward around new people. It was actually nice not being around Dan's nonsense, Charlotte's bitchiness, Miles's constant attempts at flirting with her, and her arguments with Frank.

Annie was originally a Hostile. Not for high school, though. "I moved to New York during 7th grade, and just moved back this summer," she was explaining. "It's good to see some old friends again, but I never expected to be thrown into this school. No offense."

"None taken," Libby said casually. She would definitely miss her old room mates but she had a feeling this year wouldn't be so bad either.

"I never really got out much except with Miles, Dan, Charlotte, and Frank," Naomi said thoughtfully. "I don't know what I would have done with Char as a roomie. She's a great girl and all, but…"

Annie and Libby nodded. "I wonder if they did it on purpose," Libby said wonderingly. "You know, kind of split apart the Hostiles and other new people. To promote, I don't know, new friendships?"

"It's a thought," Annie merely said. If they had, it was certainly working.

---

In 112B, there was loud music blasting, lots of happy chattering, and lots of pop. Lots and lots of sugary, caffeinated pop.

It was only the first day of school and already a party was one step away from occurring.

That was what happened when you put together Charlie Pace, Desmond Hume, Daniel Faraday, and Martin Keamy in a dormitory together.

Now Daniel was certainly the odd one out in this situation. He wasn't exactly what you'd call a party animal, but Keamy pretty much forced him to open up. After all, they'd known each other previous to this year. Also, he found Des and Charlie as very easy to befriend.

Martin, however, was a completely different story. It was surprising how well he and Faraday got along, giving their differences. Faraday was the quiet, blundering nerdy type. Martin was the tall, muscular, tough guy. And he could party like no other.

Desmond was a bit more reserved as well. He liked being in the action and all, but he just wasn't into screaming over Charlie's power chords.

Charlie was out of control. Usually he wasn't this way, but there was something about the return to school that got his adrenaline rushing. Classes started the following day, and so did the enslavement. Plus, he wanted to shred his worries away; he had only just arrived to see Claire hurriedly catching a cab. She didn't give him any explanation.

"I – I really think we might want to get to sleep soon," Daniel said tentatively.

"I agree one hundred percent, Daniel," Keamy, who was the only one who heard him, said. "Pace! Can't that thing get any louder?"

"Louder? Of course it can!" Charlie shouted and turned the volume on his amp up even more.

"That's-that's not what I…" Daniel began, but seeing a laughing Desmond shaking his head, he gave up.

After several minutes of Charlie showing off, there was a loud knock on the door and a shout. The boys shot nervous glances at each other. Charlie turned his amp off and threw his guitar in his case as Des opened the door.

"Some people are trying to sleep, keep it down!" an angry administrator yelled.

There were several disgruntled mumbles as the man walked away. "Told you we should have turned it down guys," Charlie muttered. The other three rolled their eyes and crawled into bed.

---

Even late at night, the hospital was buzzing with life.

Jack slipped into an operating room, observing. It helped take his mind off of things. Sure, he wasn't supposed to be there, but his dad was Chief of Surgery. _Was… _Jack couldn't help but think. He shook it from his head. His dad couldn't die. He wouldn't.

Eventually one of the surgeons told him to leave and he obeyed wordlessly. He would have to find something else to occupy his time until they had news for him.

Perhaps Jack would find another room and talk to the patients. He peered into the first one he could find.

"Kate?"

Her brown head snapped up from the book she was reading. Jack could not believe he even recognized her. Her face was puffed up from bruises and she sported two black eyes. One arm was in a sling. "Jack – I – why aren't you at school?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Jack said, still shocked at her state. "What happened to you?"

She sighed. "Clumsy me tripped on my suitcase as I was pulling it down the stairs."

"That so?" Jack said in an amused tone that made it clear he didn't believe her.

She nodded. "And yourself?"

He matched her sigh. "My dad. He got drunk … seriously drunk."

Kate looked surprised. "And…?"

"I don't know yet."

"I hope everything works out for you," she said honestly. He went and sat beside her and there were a few minutes of silence in which Kate's black eyes pointedly avoided Jack's.

"Stairs, huh?"

"Stairs," she repeated firmly.

More silence. "What time was it?" Jack finally asked.

"About 9:30," she said immediately.

"Who brought you here?"

"My mom."

"What was she wearing?"

Kate stared at him. "What??"

"Her clothes. What was your mom wearing?" Jack said.

"Um, dark blue jeans and her college t-shirt," Kate answered uneasily.

"What college would that be?"

"Iowa State University."

"What time did you get here this morning?"

"About 10:30."

"It took an hour to get here?"

"There was a rush hour and we almost ran out of gas."

"Oh really? What kind of car does your mom have?"

"Honda."

"What's the license plate number?"

"How should I know?" Kate questioned back, trying to sound aggressive but she could not hide the nerves that were making her voice shake.

"What is it, Kate?" Jack said, unrelenting.

"It was my stepdad, okay?" She said, her voice breaking slightly as the tears leaked from her eyes. Seeing such weakness from her was a surprise. "He wanted my mom to go buy some beer because he drank the last few this morning. She refused. So he hit her. When she cleaned herself up a bit she went to get the beer. And so…so…he turned to me."

Jack didn't say anything and just hugged Kate. He let her cry for a few minutes before she slumped back in her pillow, looking miserable.

"Kate, I -," he began but a nurse entered the room, interrupting him.

"Mr. Shephard?" Jack turned. "I hope I'm not interrupting something, but we've been looking all over for you. There's something you need to hear."

Jack heart jumped, again and again, almost knowing what he was going to hear. Kate nodded at him and he left. She lay watching out the window as the two of them conversed for a while, and the nurse said one last thing before leaving. Jack stood, ran his hand against his face, leaning forward against the wall so Kate could only see his back.

She wondered what had happened.

**There y'are! I haven't given you all of the answers….I feel like an actual writer for Lost! Haha just kidding. Kind of. So Kate's in the hospital, and Shannon's extremely upset. Now Jack is too. Review please!!**


	3. Solving Some Mysteries

Charlie was beginning to get very concerned.

Over the summer, with bigger shows, more albums selling, and all of that good stuff, Liam using heroin didn't seem like that big of a deal. But somehow with the return of school came the return of his common sense.

Nervously, Charlie took his seat again in his first hour Government class. First off, he'd gotten a glimpse of his brother snorting heroin on his way to the bathroom; he'd never guessed that his brother may be an addict. He thought it was all in good fun.

Secondly, his girlfriend was nowhere to be seen. After disappearing mysteriously yesterday, she hadn't called or texted anybody.

"What's up, kid?"

Charlie looked up, surprised that someone had acknowledged his worries. But he was much, much more surprised at exactly who was acknowledging them. "Wha - ? Oh, uh, nothing, Naomi. Just…" he looked up at the teacher, realizing he'd missed out on a lot of notes and pointed to them, then began scribbling furiously.

Naomi snatched the pencil out of his hand. Charlie didn't seem to notice for a few seconds, then finally he looked up at her and didn't say a word. "You can copy mine later," she whispered. "What's wrong?"

Charlie had no desire to share his thoughts with a girl who was still somewhat of a stranger to him. Chuckling slightly, he said, "Nothing! Seriously, I'm okay." He pulled a pen out of his pencil case and resumed writing.

Naomi watched him for a second before talking again. "You know, I went to a Drive Shaft concert this summer. You guys really play well."

"Which one?" Charlie said, genuinely interested this time.

"It was on June 29th, at that club downtown, when that guy in the audience –."

"Dorrit! Pace! Do you have something you'd like to share with the class?" the teacher questioned sharply. They shared a glance.

"N-" Naomi began.

"Yes, I do!" Charlie said boldly, getting to his feet. "This summer, at a Drive Shaft concert, the police were called and the show was postponed for an hour and a half. You may ask, why? Well, some genius in the audience thought it'd be a good idea to pour his drink all over the drum set and set it on fire. Naked. Thank you for listening." He sat back down and resumed writing.

The entire room held their breath and watched the reaction of the teacher. At first, she looked angry, but then a thoughtful look came over her face. "How'd you play the show if the drums were on fire?"

"Funny you should ask," Charlie answered. "See, Li and Roddy thought it'd be a good idea to play WHILE they were on fire. Then they got into a huge fight with the owners of the club about it because the owners put the fire out. That's actually why we were delayed for so long. Funny thing is our drummer didn't even get a say in the whole thing. They weren't too damaged. Still sounded all right."

"Sounded pretty good, if you ask me," Naomi said, amused.

"There you have it," Charlie said.

The lecture continued.

…

Libby hurried through the hallway. After almost missing first hour from oversleeping, the day continued to take a turn for the bad. 2nd hour was only about to win and she already couldn't wait for the day to end so she could just relax.

In first hour alone, she was writing down some notes when suddenly, the pencil caught onto the spiral ring and somehow, the page was torn right in half. She had to recopy two pages of notes.

Then, the two people on either side of her wouldn't shut up. That alone wouldn't be so bad, but eventually it came to them shooting rubber bands at each other. One misfired and hit Libby in the eye.

Finally as she was leaving, the person in front of her tried shutting the door; Libby tried stopping it, but instead the door just crushed her fingers.

Now, after going back to her dorm to get some ice for her hands, she was running late for 2nd hour.

She skidded to a halt when she realized she had, somewhere along the line, dropped her binder. Which had her schedule in it. Which had the room number on it that she was supposed to be going to. "Are you serious?" she murmured to herself, whirling around and almost coming face to face with a boy she'd never met.

"I'm sorry," she said hurriedly, making to pass him, but he grabbed her arm.

"Is this yours?" he said, holding up what was, in fact, her binder.

Amazed, she took it from his hand. "Yes…yes, thanks so much…" she trailed off, searching for a name. He wasn't even familiar.

He smiled, apparently not noticing that she was, in a way, asking for his name. "Mr. Lyonel's AP US History class is right there," he said, pointing to the classroom directly toward their right. "Sorry, I couldn't help but see your schedule, Libby."

Libby couldn't believe that things hadn't been absolutely horrible now. "Thanks again! I really appreciate it, um.."

This time he noticed. "I'm Jacob."

"Thanks a lot, Jacob," she smiled, turning confidently toward her US History class. She turned around as she entered, seeing an empty hallway.

…

"I can't believe I didn't think of this before!" Boone said as he hurried across the field.

"You're a genius," Nikki told him. Shannon remained silent, but shuffled beside them quickly because she, too, was concerned about her friend Claire.

"Someone tell me where we're going and why it was important enough to take me away from my lunch," Charlie whined.

"We're going to the junior high school and it's important because we may find out the meaning behind Claire's disappearing act," Boone explained. Charlie had no more complaints.

"Problem," Shannon said in a sing-song voice. They all halted and stared at her. "If Carson's not at lunch right now, how're we going to get him out of class?"

They looked at each other.

…

A huge noise emanated from the hallway. Everyone in Pre-Algebra jumped, including the teacher, who hurried outside to investigate the noise. The middle schoolers wasted no time in striking up conversation.

"Carson!"

The blonde-haired Australian 8th grader whirled around. "Charlie? What are you doing here?"

"Investigating," Boone answered for him. "I'm Boone, if you don't remember me." To Charlie, he added, "I'm going to stand guard."

Carson nodded, aware that the attention of his fellow 8th graders was directed toward them. Lowering his voice, he hissed, "investigating what?"

"Let's cut to the chase," Charlie said, also quieter. "Where's your sister?"

Carson looked deep in thought for a moment. "You mean she's not back yet?"

"No, should she be?" Charlie said, worry evident in his voice.

"I don't know," Carson admitted. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and checked the messages. "No – my mom texted me saying they're still there and to call her at break to tell me the whole story."

"Still where?"  
"The hospital," Carson replied. "You didn't even know she was there?"  
"What happened to her?" Charlie demanded, forgetting that they had lowered their voices for a reason. Any eyes that weren't on them before were now.

"Nothing!" Carson assured, slightly amused. But there was no mistaking that slightly down look on his face now. "It wasn't her – it was…a family member."

"Then why aren't you there?"

"Because she's my half-sister," he explained. "Her family isn't always my family."

"But then - ?"

"Sorry, we've got to cut it short there," Boone said abruptly. "Shan texted saying that the teacher was on her way back here."

"But - !" Charlie exclaimed as Boone grabbed his sleeve and dragged him out of the classroom. "Text me!"

Carson nodded.

…

In the late hours of the previous night, and the early hours of that day, Kate had decided to try and push herself out of bed. She was concerned about Jack and why he was just standing out in the hallway, head against the wall.

Standing in the doorway, wincing at her pain, she whispered, "Jack?"

He turned to face her, an emotionless look on his face. Well, almost emotionless. His eyes showed a man who didn't seem to know where he was or what he was doing. And that scared Kate.

"What's the license plate number?" Kate asked.

Jack tried to smile, but it looked as if it put him through severe pain. "He's dead."

Kate, forgetting all her pain, dropped her jaw open. She couldn't believe a person like Jack had to go through so much. She couldn't even imagine it. She struggled the few feet that remained between her and Jack and hugged him as he had to her moments before.

They stood there in silence for a moment before Jack regained his more professional nature. Backing away from his friend, he said, "They told me to go up to his room when I'm ready. Something important…I don't know what it could be now," he sighed. "You should be resting anyway."

"I'll see you at school," Kate said.

"See you."

Jack rounded the corners, climbed the flights of stairs, until he found his dad's room. He took a deep breath, and pushed the door open.

On the bed was a very lumpy blanket. Jack's eyes stung when he looked at it. He turned his attention elsewhere. His mom was standing above the hospital bed with her head in her hands. However, the two other people in the room were the ones that drew his eyes.

"Claire?"

Claire, who seemed to have been off in a daze, seemed shocked at the sound of her own name. "Jack – I … I thought so," she whispered. "But it seems so…impossible."

"What the hell's going on here?" Jack looked back and forth between Claire, his mom, and the woman who seemed to be Claire's mother. He tried not to direct his eyes toward the covered body.

"Jack," his mother aroused from her deep reverie. "Your father…had another child."

"What? But –," he paused, looking at Claire and her mother now. "Oh my God."

"Margot was pregnant with you at the same time I was pregnant with Claire," the 3rd woman spoke up finally. "She was born a few months after you were, I believe."

"And you knew about this?" Jack looked at his mother in disbelief.

Margot nodded. "Not for a few years…but, yes, I did find out eventually."

Jack turned away from them, though they all watched him expecting for a reaction. He breathed out, "I don't believe this," just soft enough so no one else would hear. Running a hand through his short brown hair, he turned back to face them again. Claire was not meeting his eyes.

Jack did not know what to say. The room was eerily silent, uncomfortably silent; but he had a feeling any conversation would be much more uncomfortable. He did not want to be the one to break the silence. To stall for time, he approached his father's bedside.

Everyone cleared a path for him without a word. Jack had no desire at all to pull back the sheets but something in his mind told him it must be done, if not now, then soon. His hands were strangely steady as they pulled back the cover.

He felt Claire turn her back to the body. Jack was totally motionless as he stared into his father's blank face. Someone had closed his eyes.

Before he knew what he was doing, his hands had thrown the covering back over his face.

He had no idea how much time had taken place before this happened, but during that time, his mother and Claire's had both exited the room. This silence was even more awkward than before. Thankfully, Claire spoke. "Everything seems to happen at once, huh?"

"You're telling me," Jack said, sitting on the edge of the bed. "Bet you anything no one at school will believe this."

"I don't even believe it yet," she said.

"It's mutual," he said. His mind was numb. His dad had died. Claire was his half-sister. Kate's stepdad was abusive and no one had any idea. Boone would have a heart attack if he knew.

Suddenly he realized that something needed to be done about this. Who knows how long this had been going on? It gave him something to fix, to take his mind off of things.

He was on his feet and Claire was looking at him questioningly. "I'm going for a walk."

She was silent and he exited, walking past the two mothers conversing quietly. The nightlife at the hospital was surprisingly quiet. His footsteps reverberated off of the walls as he took his walk towards Kate's room.

Jack had to help her since he couldn't help himself.

**There you have it! Claire and Jack are there for their dead father. Kate's there for her damage from her abusive stepfather. The only mystery left is Sayid…**

**Review please!**


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